


Lay Me Down

by CocoButterKisses



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Bathing/Washing, Caretaking, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-05
Updated: 2019-03-05
Packaged: 2019-11-12 12:04:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18010571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CocoButterKisses/pseuds/CocoButterKisses
Summary: In this new position, Tyler’s face was pushed up against Jamie’s stomach, the back of his head facing the TV.  Though Tyler’s body was positioned fairly comfortably, he was tense. For the second time in as many minutes, Jamie felt his heart beating hard in his chest. He doesn’t even know why he’s freaking out so much. It’s just Tyler, his Tyler. Goofy, chirpy, Tyler.Taking one last deep breath, Jamie lifts his hand from the pillow it had been resting on and placed it on the back of Tyler’s head. Cupping his head from the nape of his neck. Tyler took a deep shuddering breath, pushing his face more insistently into Jamie’s stomach. Jamie tightened his grip on Tyler, pulling him in a little.Tyler brought his arms up from in front of his chest and wrapped them around Jamie’s waist. Jamie resumed carding through his hair.Tyler wasn’t so tense anymore, but he’d started trembling slightly ever since he put his arms around Jamie.He doesn’t know what’s bothering Tyler, but he knows him, and he can tell Tyler’s trying to keep whatever he’s feeling locked inside.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "Lay Me Down" by Sam Smith
> 
> EDIT: I'll probably post the other chapters today, but considering I've been too much of a weenie to post anything until now, it could be tomorrow lol. Also, the rating may go up, still deciding 
> 
> Feel free to leave constructive criticism.

Watching each slow breath push his chest up and the following soft exhale once again compressing his chest, for one moment Jamie was overwhelmed. Just watching Tyler sleeping peacefully, gracelessly on the couch, Jamie couldn’t help but think that Tyler had never looked as young as he did in that moment.

Tyler was sprawled out on the couch, his head resting on a pillow that lay right next to Jamie’s thigh. Jamie had been watching him sleep for the last ten-or-so minutes. Smoothly, Jamie reached his hand out, resting on Tyler’s still head. Waiting a moment to see if Tyler would stir with the movement, Jamie thought that it should feel risky doing something like this. But it felt right, carding his fingers through Tyler’s too-long hair. 

After a couple of passes through Tyler’s slightly tangled hair. He began to squirm. Jamie stopped his hands movement, but didn’t remove it. Tyler did a half turn of his body lying along the couch, putting him on his back, staring up at Jamie. Jamie’s hand had been displaced from the movement, now lying next to Tyler’s head on the pillow. 

Tyler’s eyes were unfocused when he looked up at Jamie, but after a moment they mostly cleared. Jamie was surprised that Tyler even had the energy to do that. Jamie had dragged Tyler over last night after stopping by Ty’s to feed the dogs and let them out into the yard for a while. For the last few days Tyler had looked dead on his feet. He wasn’t making his usual chirps or comments, he’d even fallen asleep while they were reviewing game-tape with the team.

Tyler continued to look up at Jamie, his eyes darting across Jamie’s face, but never looking away.  
Taking a deep breath, Jamie picked his hand up from where it had fallen next to Tyler’s head. Gently setting his hand on the crown of Tyler’s head, he resumed the earlier combing through the strands. After a few passes through the dark-brown locks, Tyler sat up fairly abruptly. Jamie’s heart was in his throat in an instant, waiting for whatever Tyler what do next. 

Tyler twisted his body slightly, grabbing the pillow his head had been resting on, and threw it onto the other couch in the room. After tossing the pillow away, scooted closer to Jamie, and then set his head on Jamie’s thighs. Squirming a fair bit to get comfortable.

In this new position, Tyler’s face was pushed up against Jamie’s stomach, the back of his head facing the TV. Though Tyler’s body was positioned fairly comfortably, he was tense. For the second time in as many minutes Jamie felt his heart beating hard in his chest. He doesn’t even know why he’s freaking out so much. It’s just Tyler, his Tyler. Goofy, chirpy, Tyler. 

Taking one last deep breath, Jamie lifts his hand from the pillow it had been resting on, and placed it on the back of Tyler’s head. Cupping his head from the nape of his neck. Tyler took a deep shuddering breath, pushing his face more insistently into Jamie’s stomach. Jamie tightened his grip on Tyler, pulling him in a little.

Tyler brought his arms up from in front of his chest, and wrapped them around Jamie’s waist. Jamie resumed carding through his hair.  
Tyler wasn’t so tense anymore, but he’d started trembling slightly ever since he put his arms around Jamie.

He doesn’t know what’s bothering Tyler, but he knows him, and he can tell Tyler’s trying to keep whatever he’s feeling locked inside. 

“It’s okay, Ty,” Jamie murmured as soothingly as he could manage. “you’re okay”

Jamie doesn’t know if the reaction he gets out of Tyler is good or bad. Tyler’s body does this jerky, twisty movement, before he squeezes his arms tight around Jamie.  
Jamie’s waiting to see what Tyler will do next when he hears it. This quiet wet gasp, pushing its way out of the body on his lap.

Once Tyler starts, he can’t seem to stop. Taking deep wet and shaking breaths, growing closer and closer to full out sobs everytime.  
Shit, Jamie has no idea what to do. All he knows is he would do anything to make Tyler feel okay.

“Shh, it’s okay. Shh.” Jamie reaches his arms down underneath Tyler’s midsection, and hefts him up towards Jamie’s chest, leaving Tyler’s face to rest on Jamie’s collarbone.

“You’re good, Tyler. So, so good.” He can feel hot, wet drops of moisture start to drop on his skin. “You’re so important, Tyler. So special to me.” Tyler almost seems to wail at that. Jamie really can’t tell if he’s making it worse or not.

His confidence has mostly run out. God he’s probably just making everything harder for Tyler. The last few games have been rough on the team, but fucking Jim Lites had to fucking tear into him and Tyler. And look Jamie’s mostly used to those kinds of comments, yeah it was a little harder to deal with coming from Stars fucking CEO, but being the captain of an NHL team comes with plenty of media heckling. 

But Tyler, he hadn’t faced that toxic brand of scrutiny since his trade from Boston. Jamie still remembers how much of a wreck Tyler had been when he got to Dallas. 

Now fully second-guessing himself, Jamie starts to shift Tyler away from his body. Maybe he can just apologize and offer to get some non-meal-plan-approved snacks to eat while they watch shitty TV.

But almost as soon as Jamie starts to set him down, Tyler grabs onto his shoulders like he’s hanging on for dear life.

“No, no, no--please, I, just--” Tyler’s frantic stuttering words launch Jamie directly into protective mode. He feels like he just watched someone check Tyler face-first into the boards, and he’s about to teach someone a lesson.

“Tyler, look at me,” He tries to it as gently as possible while still sounding fairly stern. Wet, brown eyes meet his for a moment, before refocusing to a random point on Jamie’s face. Tears were still slipping down his face, along with the occasional sniffle. Jamie wanted to wrap him up and never let him go.

“What do you need, Tyler? Anything, just tell me.” He searched Tyler’s face for any clue as to what to do next.

“I just want--can you please, just--just--” Tyler got more worked up the longer he tried to get out a clear sentence. His welled up with tears as he tried to speak again. “I’m sorry, I’m--god-, I’m--I’ll go, I’m sorry” 

Jamie scrambled to grab and get ahold of Tyler. Pulling against Tyler’s mad-dash to get up and away. “No, Tyler. No--Just, look at me okay, just wait,” Jamie pulled Tyler back down to the couch, setting him sideways on Jamie’s lap, his legs curled out towards Jamie’s right, his back to the arm of the couch.

Jamie placed his hands on either side of Tyler’s face, forcing him to make eye contact.

“I don’t want you to leave, in fact I’d really like it if you stayed,” He wanted to come across perfectly clear and calm. “I want to help you, okay? All I want to do is make you feel better.”  
Tyler looked utterly defeated. His eyes searched Jamie’s face, like he was trying to figure out if he was telling the truth or not.  
“How about this,” Jamie started, “I’ll do whatever I think will help, and if you don’t like it or you want something else, you tell me. Okay?” 

Tyler still looked a little like he didn’t believe him, but he nodded his yes. It’s fine, Jamie will just have to convince him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is mostly Jamie's thoughts and dialogue between him and Tyler.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna go ahead and raise the rating. Chapter 3 is going to have some smut, although it won't be the most explicit.

Jamie gently pushed Tyler backward and up, then stood up himself.  
“When was the last time you ate?” Jamie asked.

“I don’t--I’m not, uh sure” Tyler wouldn’t meet his eyes as he spoke. Jamie had never seen him this small and nervous. Even when he first got here from Boston, he had an underlying attitude of defiance. But now it seemed like he was scared one wrong move would make Jamie mad enough to kick him straight of his house.

“Hey, look at me,” God how many times has he said that just in the last hour. He’s never had to ask before. Tyler was so headstrong, he never shied away from eye contact.  
“that’s okay. It’s okay, Ty.” At least he knows where to start.

Jamie leads Tyler into his kitchen and sat him down on one of the bar stools at the island. Now all he had to do was procure something for Tyler to eat. Probably fairly nutritious considering he had no idea when he might have last eaten.  
He always cooks too much food, maybe he’s still not used to living in a house without Jordy, so he’s pretty sure he has some leftovers in the fridge. 

He grabs some grilled chicken he had made, it was marinated in some type of Mediterranean sauce, he’ll have to look at that recipe again. He grabs some asparagus and the leftover mashed potatoes from when he had some of the guys over.  
He’s not trying to be fancy or anything, so he throws it all together and then into the microwave. While it’s heating up, he grabs the two flavors of protein shake he has and holds them up for Tyler to choose from. 

Tyler picks strawberry over chocolate, which honestly Jamie could have just guessed, but he’s trying to keep Tyler occupied from whatever is bothering him.  
The microwave beeps as he’s setting the shake down on the island. Grabbing the plate out of the microwave, he snags a fork and knife from the drawer before setting it on the counter next to the shake as well.

Jamie takes a seat on the stool next to Tyler and pulls out his phone while keeping one eye on Tyler. He scrolls through the team schedule, they don’t have practice until 11 tomorrow, and they played a game yesterday, so he’s pretty much free for the next 24 hours. He glances up to see how much progress has been made with getting Tyler to eat. He’s eaten a fair amount already, which is a relief

“Good job, Tyler. You’re almost done.” Jamie encourages. At his words, Tyler’s face blushes brightly. Huh, well now is not the time to explore that, but no harm in keeping it mind.

Tyler finishes his food without Jamie having to force him. He clears the dishes and drops next to the sink for later. When he turns back around, Tyler clearly has something on his mind. He keeps opening and closing his mouth, but nothing has come out yet.

“It’s okay, you can say whatever you want to. I’m listening, promise.” Jamie does his best to smile encouragingly. . 

“I can, I can go home now if you want. I know you gave stuff to do and I have to take care of the dogs anyways, so I can just call an uber and stop bothering you, ya’ know” Tyler finishes with a smile that’s not as happy looking as he probably hopes it is.

“No.” Jamie was going to say something a little more thought out, but everything about that sentence just pissed him off. Not at Tyler of course. “I just--no, that’s not--no.” Wow, not improving much, “You’re staying here. I’m calling your dog sitter” Jamie tried his best to use his captain voice, he really didn’t want to argue this with Tyler, not now.

“Are you sure? I know I’m--I can be...a lot.” Tyler met his eyes for a few moments but looked away quickly. That’s still an improvement from earlier.

“Yes. Now come on, we’re going upstairs” He grabbed ahold of Tyler’s arm and all but dragged him upstairs. 

Whatever is going on with Tyler, he doesn’t know if he can fix it. But he can pamper the fuck out of him. And maybe, maybe it’ll make things a little easier for him.

 

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

 

As Jamie leads Tyler upstairs he considers his options. Tyler agreed he would tell him if Jamie did something he didn’t like, but--well Jamie doesn’t want Tyler to not like something he does, which means trying to guess what Tyler wants right now. 

Reaching the second-floor landing, Jamie glances back at Tyler. His shoulders are hunched, eyes cast downward. Jamie feels.. he doesn’t know what he feels. Tyler’s always been like sunshine to Jamie. Someone he’s always glad to see, makes him feel warm inside. Admittedly, Tyler is quite literally the light of his life. 

Huh. Damn. Guess he’s in love with his best friend.

Everything Katie said when she broke up with him makes a lot more sense. He loved her, and hey, they are still friends. He just.. didn’t really get what she was saying at the time. When Katie said she wanted to break up, he thought they were going to fight and blame each other. He thought, maybe he just did something wrong. Instead, she sat him down on her bed, she held his hands, and she told him that she loved him, but there was someone else waiting for him, waiting for him to realize he loved them. The way she said it, it was clear she was talking about someone he knew already.

It was definitely the nicest breakup he’s ever had, even if he didn’t understand what she meant, and then they watched a movie together after. 

“Jamie?” Shit. How long has he been staring off into space.

“Sorry, Sorry. Just zoned out for a sec.” Tyler still looked weary, which, fair enough. Jamie put his hand on Tyler’s shoulder and pushed him on towards the master bedroom, and then into the attached master bath.

To be honest this was sort of risky, especially now considering Jamie just realized he has romantic feelings for Tyler. But he’s now so he might as well give it a shot.

Reaching inside one of the cabinets that outlines the large mirror, Jamie rummages for everything he’s going to need. After he’s got everything it dumps it onto the counter and starts up the water in the bathtub.

Jamie turned to address Tyler, who was awkwardly stood near the doorway.

“Do you like bathbombs?” Jamie knew it was a dumb question, but it was the same as the protein shakes earlier, he’s just trying to engage Tyler.

For the first time since he woke up this afternoon, Tyler gives him a small but genuine smile. “I love bathbombs.” He said softly, almost shy.

“Perfect.” Jamie smiled back


End file.
